


They Were Study-Buddies

by Lie2theTruth



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, High School Boys in Love, M/M, No Future Updates Planned, Protective Mom Joyce Byers, Set in the '80s, Some possible homophobia due to time period, Steve Harrington really needs love, Stonathan - Freeform, Study Buddies, The School Jock & The School Loner, Will is the Coolest Brother Byers, mild swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-07-31 07:42:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20111572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lie2theTruth/pseuds/Lie2theTruth
Summary: Jonathan Byers wants nothing to do with the people at his school. Especially not that annoying jock Steve Harrington who for some reason won't leave him alone. But when Steve asks for his help with something he finds himself saying yes with no clue why- or what he's gotten himself into.





	1. It Begins With A Question

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first Stonathan Fic. I don't think it's a very popular pairing, but idk. I do love me some rare-pairs. Just for some context there's no supernatural elements in this story and Will was never in the Upside Down. I mention some other characters from the show, but it is mainly focused on the Byers family with Steve of course.

Of course high school sucked for Jonathan Byers. He’d gotten used to it by now. He kept mainly to himself and he liked it that way. If he needed to talk to someone he had his mom and his brother.

Family the most important thing to him. Ever since their dad had left Jonathan had become the de facto man of the house. His mom pretended that she didn’t need any help, but he wasn’t dumb. He knew it was a struggle for her to pay the bills and hold everything together. She wouldn’t accept any help from her ex so instead Jonathan had demanded money from his father when times were tough. Joyce did not ask where these funds came from because she did not want to know.

To make a long story short, he had enough on his plate than to worry about fitting in with the other people at school. He went to class and got decent grades and then went home to help Will with his homework.

Unfortunately there was someone who would not leave him alone. Steve Harrington. The king of Hawkins. He mercilessly picked on Jonathan every chance he got. But he never took the bait.

Even today when Steve shoved him so hard out of the way he nearly fell down and broke his camera.

“Watch where you’re going freak,” Steve cackled. His cronies Tommy and Carol snickered as well. Jonathan didn’t even look up. He just made sure his camera, his most prized possession was okay and walked on.

He had no clue why Harrington like to mess with him so much. It’s not like he’d stolen his girlfriend or something. Actually Steve hadn’t had a girlfriend in a long time. He would have noticed since their lockers were very close together. Steve loved to make out with whatever girl he was seeing right in front of his.

It was useless to try and figure out what was going on in that idiot’s brain. They had nothing in common and hadn’t since they were in elementary school when they played at recess together. Not that they were ever best friends, but everything was a lot simpler when they were younger.

These were the final weeks of their junior year. If he made it through this he’d have a whole summer of working on his portfolio for art school. He had to be creative to find things to photograph in Hawkins. Currently he was doing a study of Will and his three closest friends dressed up in their D&D gear. It was very entertaining to say the least.

He was lost in thought as he traipsed the familiar path to his car in the back of the school’s parking lot. After he climbed in he put in a tape that he’d been listening to all week. The debut album of a British band called the Smiths. News traveled slowly to Hawkins so he didn’t know much about them, but he could relate to the lyrics. The tape started where he’d left off- on a song called “What Difference Does It Make?” The lead singer’s voice filled his car as he headed home. Jonathan would be alone till later as him mom was working and Will was hanging out at Mike Wheeler’s house.

His house was dark and cool when he entered. It was welcome as it was a unseasonably hot day for early summer in Indiana. Jonathan put his book bag down to make himself a sandwich. Sometimes it did feel good being alone, but he also wondered what it would be like to have friends.

It was stupid to think about stuff like that. No one liked him at school and it was mainly his fault for not even trying to be likable.

A knock at the door tore him away from his musings. No one visited them unless it was some bill collector for something they’d forgotten to pay. Jonathan sighed and made his way over to the door. He did not expect to open it up and see Steve Harrington’s face staring at him.

“What the hell do you want?” Jonathan asked bitterly. He was tempted to slam the door the the asshole’s face, but curiosity got the better of him.

“Nice to see you, too, Byers,” Steve replied. His voice was smooth and charming. It may work on everyone else, but it was not going to work on Jonathan. “Hey, listen, I need your help with something.”

“You need my help? Why don’t you ask Tommy or one of your other dozen minions to help?”

“Because this is a delicate matter.” Steve continued, as if that would explain everything. After a few moments he realized it didn’t make anything clear he asked, “Can I come inside and we can talk?”

“You have got to be out of your fucking mind, Harrington. I know this is going to be one of your sick jokes and frankly I don’t have time for it.” Jonathan made a move to close the door but Steve was faster and stopped him.

“I know we’re not exactly friends,” he was interrupted by Jonathan’s loud laugh at this understatement. “Okay we aren’t friends, but I need you to help me study. I can’t ask anyone else because then they’d know I was stupid and I actually care about school.”

“But I’m not even that smart… Why don’t you ask that girl in our grade, what’s her name? Nancy? She’s the smartest in every class.”

“I can’t ask Nancy because she hates me. She thinks I’m a total asshole.”

“Oh I can’t imagine why,” Jonathan said with a roll of his eyes.

Steve thought he actually needed to tell him why so he explained, “It’s because I made fun of her friend Barb. I don’t even remember what I said actually.”

Jonathan shook his head- clearly Harrington needed a lot of help. The other couldn’t even pick up on sarcasm.

“Look, if you help, I’ll do anything you want. Well, within reason. Just please don’t tell anyone about this.”

“Why because it would ruin your image to be associated with me? Don’t worry I don’t want people to know about this either.”

A small smile crossed Steve’s face. “So does that mean you will help?”

“I guess so. When do we start?”

“Now? Please? I need to score high on the final exams if I’m to pass any of our classes.”

Jonathan sighed. Why the fuck was he doing this? It was probably going to bite him in the ass at some point. After all no good deed goes unpunished.

“Alright. Did you bring your books and stuff?”

“Uhh… I didn’t think I needed those…” Steve trailed off and Jonathan made an exasperated face. “Ha! Just kidding! They’re in my car. I’ll be right back.”

Jonathan wasn’t quite sure what his mom would think about this. She didn’t particularly care for the Harrington family. Luckily Will was good at keeping secrets even if his chatty friends weren’t. He definitely wanted his brother’s opinion on this. The younger boy was very good at reading people.


	2. Byers' Family Dinner (feat. Steve)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The odd couple start their homework and when Joyce arrives home after work Jonathan expects her to tell Steve to leave. But his mom is full of surprises.

Steve let himself back into the Byers’ house and shut the door behind him. “I really need help with geography. Oh and U.S. history. And math…”

“Okay, okay. I get it. We’ll just start with working on the homework for tomorrow. Then if we have time we’ll start actually studying for the exam.”

“Let’s do history first. It’s the most boring,” Steve stated as he pulled out his book. It was, not surprisingly, in pristine condition. He’d obviously never bothered to open it all semester.

“Sure. Why not. Looks like Mrs. Jones wants us to answer some multiple choice questions,” Jonathan began, squinting at the worksheet. “They don’t look too hard. Let’s see… ‘which president oversaw the most major effort to relocate the Cherokee Nation to the west?’” He looked at the other boy expectantly.

“Uh….George Washington?”

“You just guessed him because that’s the only president whose name you can remember.”

“No! I remember Abraham Lincoln! But he was good so he couldn’t have moved those people.”

Jonathan rolled his eyes, but he supposed that meant Steve wasn’t totally hopeless. “History isn’t all black and white, though. Anyway the answer is Andrew Jackson- so circle it.”

Steve did as he was told and the pair continued this way until their first chosen assignment was completed. They moved on to math when the door opened to reveal Jonathan’s mom, Joyce.

She was carrying a bag of groceries, but nearly dropped them when she saw that her son was not alone at the kitchen table.

“Uh hello. Who’s this?”

“Hey mom,” Jonathan greeted her and immediately ran over to help her with her purchases. “This is Steve Harrington. From school. We’re doing homework together.”

“Uh huh.” Clearly Joyce was just a suspicious as Jonathan was. She knew about the Harringtons and even though her oldest never complained about this boy’s bullying- word around a small town traveled fast.

She stood with her hands on her hips examining this guest and tried to decide whether or not she should kick him out.

Luckily Steve remembered his manners. He stood up and extended his hand to her. “Sorry to barge in on your evening. I just have been struggling with classes and Jonathan offered to help.”

Joyce shot her boy a doubtful glance, but Jonathan was purposefully avoiding her gaze.

“I can go now,” the other boy offered. “I guess you’re eating dinner soon.”

Joyce Byers was not one to let something mysterious slide by her so quickly. “Don’t be silly, Steve! I’m making spaghetti tonight and I always make too much. Stay and have some. You guys can keep working while I cook.”

Jonathan practically gasped at this, but his mom simply smiled sweetly and went about her preparations.

“Thanks, Mrs. Byers.” Steve looked shocked as well, but very pleased. “I usually have those nasty tv dinners when I get home. My mom doesn’t cook even when she’s around.”

“You’re welcome. No one should be subjected to frozen meals all the time. Will keeps telling me they’re unhealthy. He’s done a lot of research on it, too.”

Jonathan sat in amazement as his mom and his least favorite person at school chatted away. He blinked his eyes several times and even considered pinching himself to see if this was really happening.

Luckily for him his little brother came home at that very moment. Jonathan rushed over and grabbed Will before he could see what was going on.

“Wha…?” the younger boy exclaimed as he was dragged into his older brother’s room. “What’s going on?”

“Someone is staying for dinner.”

“Who? A girl? Do you have a girlfriend now?” In any other situation Jonathan would have been mad at this tone of disbelief in his brother’s voice, but he didn’t have time for that.

“No! It’s Steve. Steve Harrington.”

“That motherfucker?”

“Will! If mom hears you use that word…”

“Well it sounds like she’s busy chatting with your new best friend so I am betting she won’t notice.”

“This is serious. I don’t know how I feel about this!” Jonathan didn’t think this would be a problem. He actually half suspected his mom would kick Steve out.

“I don’t really know what to say,” Will replied with a shrug. “Wish I could help, but I smell spaghetti. If you want to stay in here and brood then go ahead.”

The older boy was cursing the day he ever enriched his younger brother’s vocabulary so much. Will was smart, but to use the word “brood” in the correct context was just too much.

He sighed. There was no choice but to go out there and have the weirdest family dinner of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes. This is not my best. I need to regroup and come back to this with better ideas. Just think of this as a transitory chapter of sorts. 
> 
> Thanks for reading. This might not be updated for a while just be warned. I have more inspo for my other WIP.


	3. Friends? Maybe.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve has the best spaghetti of his life and Joyce and Will adopt him into their family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's just a short chapter because I wanted to update this. I have been feeling like Steve needs love lately so this is what I came up with.

cooked meal in the longest time. If his parents were home then they had a chef cook for them. It was fancy shit that he did not enjoy eating. But this spaghetti was the best thing he’d tasted in his life. He bet even Italians couldn’t do it better.

“What subjects are you working on?” Jonathan’s mom inquired.

“Oh a little bit of everything,” Steve admitted. “I am pretty far behind in my classes and I really want to graduate.”

Joyce made a sympathetic noise. “I was never much of a good student either. And my study sessions turned into something else entirely…”

“Eww… mom! That’s gross,” Will exclaimed covering his ears. Jonathan, who was across from him, put his head in his hands.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Byers. We’ll be good.” Steve was very much amused by this situation.

Will took this lull in the conversation to tell everyone about his new Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Steve had no clue what he was going on about, but the younger boy seemed so passionate about it that he was captivated by the descriptions.

Too soon dinner was finished and Steve had felt he’d outstayed his welcome.

“Thank you so much for the food. It was delicious. And Will, maybe you should teach me how to play D&D some time, hmm?”

Will nodded enthusiastically and was practically beaming.

Surprisingly Jonathan walked Steve out to his car.

“Look man…” the other boy began.

“No. I’m sorry,” Steve interrupted. “I was totally out of line to push myself on your family like this.”

“You don’t have to apologize. My mom adores you and my little brother well… he can’t get me to play that game so you’re like his hero now. I couldn’t get rid of you now if I tried.”

That made Steve chuckle. “Well in that case I better come over soon or they’ll kick you out of the house.”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“It’s a deal then. See you later.”

They both stood there awkwardly for a moment before Jonathan gave a small wave and headed back inside. Steve stared after him for a long while before getting in his car and driving home to his extremely empty house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure where this is going... but that's how everything I write is now. I hope to continue it though. I love getting in Jonathan's head because I was also the school outcast who listened to emo music. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it!
> 
> P.S. I hope there will be lots of Joyce taking care of Steve because lbr his parents suck.


End file.
